THE NEW GROWTH THEORIES AND THEIR EMPIRICS, Discussion Paper in Economics, University of Glasgow, N. 2005-04 (http://www.gla.ac.uk/Acad/Economics

The aim of this paper is to update the reviews on endogenous growth theories in order to explore whether recent empirical studies are more supportive of their main predictions. Among the core topics studied in the growth econometric framework, namely, convergence, identifications of growth determinants and factors responsible of growth differences in the data, the primary focus of this paper is on the last two. Since the use of econometrics was originally motivated by convergence issues, in this work we will review econometric studies that test primarily the relevance of endogenous models in terms of significance and robustness of growth’s determinant coefficients. We argue that: (i) causal inference drawn from the empirical growth literature remains highly questionable, ii) there are estimates for a wide range of potential factors but their magnitude and robustness are still under debate. Overall, however, if properly interpreted, endogenous growth models' predictions are increasingly gaining empirical support.endogenous growth, growth regressions, convergence

The New Growth Theoris and their Empirics

The aim of this paper is to update the reviews on endogenous growth theories in order to explore whether recent empirical studies are more supportive of their main predictions. Among the core topics studied in the growth econometric framework, namely, convergence, identifications of growth determinants and factors responsible of growth differences in the data, the primary focus of this paper is on the last two. Since the use of econometrics was originally motivated by convergence issues, in this work we will review econometric studies that test primarily the relevance of endogenous models in terms of significance and robustness of growth’s determinant coefficients. We argue that: (i) causal inference drawn from the empirical growth literature remains highly questionable, ii) there are estimates for a wide range of potential factors but their magnitude and robustness are still under debate. Overall, however, if properly interpreted, endogenous growth models' predictions are increasingly gaining empirical support.

Non-cyclic phases for neutrino oscillations in quantum field theory

We show the presence of non-cyclic phases for oscillating neutrinos in the context of quantum field theory. Such phases carry information about the non-perturbative vacuum structure associated with the field mixing. By subtracting the condensate contribution of the flavor vacuum, the previously studied quantum mechanics geometric phase is recovered

Spontaneous supersymmetry breaking probed by geometric invariants

The presence of the Aharonov-Anandan invariant in phenomena in which vacuum condensates are physically relevant can help to reveal the spontaneous supersymmetry breaking induced by condensates. The analysis is presented in the case of the Wess--Zumino model. The manifestation of the Aharonov-Anandan invariant of atoms and their superpartners, generated at non-zero temperature, could reveal the signature of SUSY violation in a recently proposed experimental setup based on an optical lattice in which SUSY is broken at non-zero temperature.Comment: 5 page

Vacuum condensates as a mechanism of spontaneous supersymmetry breaking

A possible mechanism for the spontaneous breaking of SUSY, based on the presence of vacuum condensates, is reviewed. Such a mechanism could occur in many physical examples, both at the fundamental and emergent level, and would be formally analogous to spontaneous SUSY breaking at finite temperature in the TFD formalism, in which case it can be applied as well. A possible experimental setup for detecting such a breaking through measurement of the Anandan-Aharonov invariants associated with vacuum condensates in an optical lattice model is proposed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, review article to appear in the special issue "Supersymmetry, Supergravity, and Superstring Phenomenology" of Advances in High Energy Physic

Vacuum condensates, flavor mixing and spontaneous supersymmetry breaking

Spontaneous supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking is revealed in all phenomena in which vacuum condensates are physically relevant. The dynamical breakdown of SUSY is generated by the condensates themselves, which lift the zero point energy. Evidence is presented in the case of the Wess-Zuimino model, and the flavor mixing case is treated in detail.Comment: 5 page

Dark energy, cosmological constant and neutrino mixing

The today estimated value of dark energy can be achieved by the vacuum condensate induced by neutrino mixing phenomenon. Such a tiny value is recovered for a cut-off of the order of Planck scale and it is linked to the sub eV neutrino mass scale. Contributions to dark energy from auxiliary fields or mechanisms are not necessary in this approach.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure